"Doing more exercise with less intensity,"
Arthur Jones believes, "has all but
destroyed the actual great value
of weight training. Something
must be done . . . and quickly."
The New Bodybuilding for
Old-School Results supplies
MUCH of that "something."

This is one of 93 photos of Andy McCutcheon that are used in The New High-Intensity Training to illustrate the recommended exercises.

You do not have to go through an elaborate warm-up routine before your HIT session. In fact, each set of 8 to 12 repetitions has a built-in warm-up. Your initial 6 to 7 repetitions are an effective warm-up for your last several repetitions, which are the hardest.

Lets assume, for example, that you can complete 10 leg extensions in good form with 100 pounds. If each repetition requires 8 seconds (4/4), it will take you 56 seconds to do the first 7 repetitions. During this time, your knees and quadriceps muscles experience a very specific warm-up, and are well prepared for the final two repetitions. By the time your quadriceps exert maximum effort, they have had more than a minute of progressively more difficult repetitions to stimulate the appropriate physiological adjustments.

Competitive weightlifters, on the other hand, do need several sets of progressively heavier warm-ups before they do their maximum lifts. Such warm-ups may also be psychologically beneficial to the lifter.

I find about 3 minutes of jump roping at about 100-120 skips a minute works to get the heart legs, shoulders and back warmed up pretty good. Actual warmup sets are good for those working near 1 rep max or doing complicated lifts requiring a lot of skill. I do a few warmup sets, but nothing super complex like an olympic lifter or powerlifter would do. I think as you get older you may find that a few warmup sets on your major compound exercises may be a necessary evil and keep your joints from rebelling on you. To each his own, but I think the middle ground of doing a few is better than making your warmup a workout in and of itself and doing absolutely no warmup at all and just relying on the first 6-7 reps of a set to count as your warmup. I think some folks definitely spend too much time warming up, but no warmup at all is a little extreme even with a 4/4, 3/3, or 2/4 rep cadence. Especially for those of us who are over 35.

The administrator is correct no warmup is neccessary. The first few reps if performed in a slow controlled manner are all the warmup you need. Anything else is a waste of time and effort ,not to mention recovery ability.
Stretching is also uneccessary prior to a workout as all the stretching you need will be provided if you in fact perform full range exercise, which is a core principle of the Arthur Jones Method.
Over 35? How about over 50 no warmup and I'll match almost anybody with the exception of most ,yeah most, circus contortionists as far as flexability is concerned. The only stretching I have ever done was with wieght training.

How do you count both doing the exercise and in between exercises. Do you simply count 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi silently while doing the exercise? And guess when 30 seconds is up to move to the next exercise? or is there a workout clock or watch I should get?

To keep time during a particular exercise, say bench press, for example, I take a deep breath as soon as I begin to press up the weight and let it out in spurts - 2 spurts upwards, then a short pause (without locking my elbows, of course), and then 2 spurts down. This allows me to keep a perfect 2-2 cadence; plus it makes it easier for me to count the number of reps I complete also, since I'm not counting (with numbers at least) the time it takes for me to do each rep. As far as the 30 seconds goes, I find that is about the time it takes me to go from machine to machine and set the pins into place, assuming you don't have to wait for machines. (You are going to have to really hustle if you use free weights more so than machines).

I agree with you on this. I also perform 1 or 2 light loading sets prior to my actual HIT set. This helps me also mentally to get prepared for the actual loading set. I do however dont see any benefit from stretching either. If anything it even makes you weaker I noticed during a period of my training when I tried to incorporate it.

HIT HARD!
Markus Reinhardt
ps. where can I get your book Ellington "the New High Intensity? Training"?

mrhighintensity wrote:
I agree with you on this. I also perform 1 or 2 light loading sets prior to my actual HIT set. This helps me also mentally to get prepared for the actual loading set. I do however dont see any benefit from stretching either. If anything it even makes you weaker I noticed during a period of my training when I tried to incorporate it.

HIT HARD!
Markus Reinhardt
ps. where can I get your book Ellington "the New High Intensity? Training"?

Here is my suggestion. On separate workout days, attempt your goal reps without a warm-up and then with warm-up and see if you attain more reps with or without a reasonable warmup. For me the answer is always clear, much easier to attain the correct reps after warm-up and much more likely that I can do more total reps in a set which was preceded by a warm-up.

Gentlemen
I'm a first time user of this forum. Great site.
While I am a big time advocate of HIT principles I have trouble wrapping my head around the little-to-no warmup that you are discussing. The thought of squating, bench pressing, or deadlifting a weight of even moderate size without a warmup makes me cringe.

Am I correct in that you feel that someone should be able to walk into a gym and get under the bar and just start bench pressing or squating with their target weight for the day?

I seem to need to do warm-ups set for compound exercises. But with single muscle exercises (if there really is such a thing) I seem to be able to go right into HIT without prior low intensity warm-up sets.

I do not do a warm up, but I have noticed that I get better results on my "to failure" set if I did a NTF set before, however it is rarely the same movement. So in other words it is a super-set of two exercises where the first set is NTF.

bent over rows NTF
machine pullover TF

standing biceps curl NTF
machine curl TF

I do not like doing the same exercise though, so I would not do 2 sets of chest press, or two sets of standing biceps curl.

I?ll second that , I?ve been a HIT,r since 1976.
I did sad to say have a brief moment of madness and spent a year doing aerobics, then 30 minutes into a session I tore my calf muscle quite badly , that was after 10mins warm up !
Research does show warm and stretching serves no useful purpose other than a Psychological one stretching can tear a muscle and it is usually done when the joint is in its most vulnable position , lack of flexibility as we age can often mean that our joints are more protected .
I?m 58 now never warmed up ,just a slow deliberate style . I have two female friends who took the aerobic route to fitness ,one a year older , the other a year younger , both have had hip replacements on one side at least .
Both warmed up before their workouts .
Makes you think doesn?t it !
Stay safe ,move slowly .
Dave